This invention relates generally to a splatter guard that operates with a variety of conventional hand-held electric mixers, conventional mixing bowls, and, more specifically, to a removable, largely transparent splatter guard designed specifically to be used with a broad range of electric mixers and bowls.
The operation of hand-held mixers and most stationary mixers suffer from the following problems. During mixer operation, splatter, or batter ingredients, are flung from the mixer blades onto the user and into the surrounding area, typically a kitchen.
Splashing, or splatter, is largely caused by the rotation of the beater blades while in contact with mixing ingredients, or batter. The rotating beater blades drag, accelerate, and often flings batter from the beater surfaces into the air. This air-borne batter, or splatter, is particularly annoying since it can hit a very large area. The location of this splatter is not well defined and is practically random. The splatter quite often gets on the user's or cook's, hands, clothes and face. Since the location of the splatter within the kitchen is not well defined, the clean-up is difficult and time-consuming.
A recent improvement to stationary mixers is the incorporation of a transparent funnel-shaped shield that mounts onto a special bowl. Both this bowl and funnel-shield are shipped as parts of the complete product. This funnel/shield-bowl combination is available on the "Kitchen Aid-Proline-Heavy Duty Mixer, Model KSM5". The funnel helps protect the user and the environment from splatter. Unfortunately, the funnel is designed for a specific model stationary mixer and a unique bowl with special features. Additionally, the Model KSM5 mixer employs a single-orbital beater which is very unusual for a home mixer.
One other product attempts to solve the splatter problem during start-up. The electric mixer from Krups, the "Krups Power Mix ProMetal 240 W", comes with a mixing bowl with a nominal 8" opening. The electric control of this Krups unit allows for a gradual start of the spinning blades to help reduce "splashing". This feature is referred to as an "antisplash" feature. This "gradual start feature", however, does not address the general problem of splatter during normal operation.
The stationary electric mixer is usually much heavier and typically more expensive than the hand-held mixer. The stationary mixer most often uses two beaters and is coupled to a substantial, stationary base. Hand-held mixers sell for a fraction of the cost of the stationary mixers. The lower cost and smaller size makes these hand-held electric mixers more popular than the stationary electric mixers. The problem of splatter, however, is common to both stationary and hand-held mixers. A product that solves this problem of splatter for the variety of hand-held mixers without the need for any modification to the mixer in a cost-effective, easy-to-use, and sanitary manner would have considerable benefit.
Earlier Concepts Disclosed in Prior Patents
Others have attempted solutions to this problem. None, however, have been commercially successful largely because they lacked the unique features of this proposed invention. Among the patents proposing splatter guard solutions are the following:
______________________________________ Patentee U.S. Pat. No. Issue Date ______________________________________ Robert L. Adams 844,906 Feb. 19, 1907 Charles A. Vidinghoff 1,179,984 Apr. 18, 1916 Frank B. Post Apr. 18, 1950 Frieda S. Franke Aug. 8, 1950 Estelle M. Perkins Oct. 28, 1958 James A. Wright May 9, 1967 Ethel M. Hawke Oct. 21, 1975 Adele L. Bewley June 1, 1976 Robert E. Schiffner et al. 4,549,8ll Oct. 29, 1985 Gregory M. Filias Sept. 17, 1996 Terry L. Myers et al. 5,893,640 Apr. 13, 1999 ______________________________________
While devices listed above do provide a shielding function, they all lack the unique attributes of the proposed invention. Some of the inventions disclosed above do not provide for easy viewing, or easy access to the entire volume of the bowl. Some do not allow for the ease of mixer and bowl manipulation, access for addition of ingredients, or do not provide a resting platform for the case of the hand-held mixer. Some are not appropriate for a wide variety of hand-held mixers.
Specifically, in the case of Filias, the disclosed device does not allow for the use of conventional, unmodified mixers with various lengths of the beater shaft, nor stationary mixers with a longer shaft and curved housing, nor single-beater mixers. The device as proposed by Filias also prevents the user from scraping the bowl and is not suitable for a broad range of beaters. Also, the device as disclosed by Filias does not provide a means for resting the hand-held mixer in any convenient way on the bowl, an important feature or requirement of a splatter guard for hand-held mixers. The device disclosed by Filias also does not allow the cook to rest their hands on the bowl, nor manipulate the bowl, without danger of getting soiled by the mixing ingredients or splatter.
The disclosure of Hawke, makes no reference to transparency, an important requirement for practical use, nor is there a provision for adding material during the mixing process unless the shield, or guard is removed. Also, the solution disclosed by Hawke relies on beater shaft contact to locate the splatter guard in relation to the mixer. This intermittent contact with the high-speed rotating shaft of the mixer encourages wear, friction and noise. Also Hawke lacks any provision for easily adding ingredients or for viewing the mixing process.
Many of the devices described in earlier patents are complicated, expensive and non-hygienic. Some of the patents listed above provide centering of the device to the mixing bowl via contact between the device's outer periphery, or edge, and the edge of the bowl. These patents include those of Vidinghoff and Perkins. Such approaches are not appropriate for a broad range of bowl sizes with a single device. Also, narrowly spaced concentric rings are difficult to clean. Vidinghoff and Perkins also incorporate sliding doors. The sliding doors are difficult to clean because of the intricate features of a sliding door. Also, the sliding doors are expensive to fabricate because they require fine tolerances to provide smooth operation. The sliding door operation also requires significant manipulation.
The prior art which utilized two closely-spaced small holes for beater location are not suitable for the wide range of beater blade base designs nor for various beater blade separation. Such two-hole designs also require that the cook remove the beaters from the mixer for operation and installation. Also, these two-hole designs provide only limited access to the entire volume of the mixing bowl. In some of the prior art, these two-hole designs rely on intermittent contact of the beater shaft to locate the splatter shield of the prior art. Examples of the two-hole design that rely on mixing beater contact for centering or location include Bewley, Franke, Schiffner and Filias.
The splash guard disclosed by Myers is designed to work with special features of a particular hand-held mixer. Improved bowl handling ergonomics is not provided, nor is the guard suitable for the wide variety of hand-held mixers currently on the market or that have been sold.
None of the prior art devices provide "splashing" or "splashing" protection for the vast majority of hand-held mixers in a cost-effective, clean, quiet and easy fashion.
Objectives and Advantages
A primary object of the present invention is the provision of a mixing bowl splatter guard designed to work with most hand-held electric mixers and a wide variety of bowls. Some typical electric hand held mixers suitable for use with the present invention include the "Black and Decker "Spatula-Smart" Electric Mixer, Cat. Number M-175" and the "Sunbeam Mixmaster Model 2484".
The disclosed invention is a low-cost component that protects the user and environment from annoying splatter during operation of a food mixer. One goal of the invention is to provide a shield to be interposed between the user and the desired mixing bowl for use with a hand-held or stationary mixer.
An additional goal of this invention is to provide a means to rest a hand-held mixer on the splatter guard while the cook can attend to other matters, such as, obtaining ingredients or checking the recipe. This will save the cook time from constantly placing the mixer on the table and greatly reduce the need for the clean-up of ingredients that drip from the mixing beater, or blades.
Most mixing beaters are formed from a series of four identical half-loops symmetrically mounted to the steel shaft. However, the exact distance between beaters in the case of dual-beater mixers is not controlled by any standard, though it tends to range between 35 mm to 50 mm. Also, the detailed construction of the beater shaft differs among many household mixers. Given this lack of standards, a further object of the present invention is to allow for a range of mixing beater diameters, lengths and shapes and various mixing beater shafts.
Another goal of the invention is to allow for very easy use by not requiring the cook to remove the blades for proper usage. Thus, another goal of the present invention is to provide for easy assembly or location of the splatter guard between the mixer and the intended bowl.
Other goals of the invention include providing a means for easy introduction of additional mixing materials or ingredients with minimal amount of movement or disruption of the mixing set-up.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a means to allow the beaters easy access to the entire volume of the bowl.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide for easy observation of the mixing process through the use of a largely translucent construction.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide for easy clean-up through the use of simple, crevice-free construction, and allow for electric dishwasher as well as manual cleaning.
It is still a further object of the present invention to allow for easy storage.
It is still a further object of the present invention to allow for use on a wide variety of mixing bowl shapes and sizes, with various bowl thicknesses and construction, without need for any modifications to the existing mixer equipment or bowls.
It is still a further object of the present invention to allow for unimpeded operation of a hand-held mixer by providing for stabilization of the device on the mixer bowl against vibrations induced by the mixer.
It is still a further object of the present invention to allow for single-beater mixers with limited automatic orbital beater motion.
It is still a further object of the present invention to allow for quiet operation.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a means to allow cooks to rest their hands on the splatter guard while operating a hand-held mixer while also providing a safety shield from the spinning beaters.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a means to allow users of hand-held mixers an improved ergonomic manipulation of the bowl through a combined simultaneous grasping of the bowl and splatter guard.